Andrew Eldritch - Before The Sisters of Mercy

Before The Sisters of Mercy

Andrew Eldritch was born in the small cathedral city of Ely in 1959. Eldritch later wrote a piano song named "1959", alluding to the year of his birth, starting with the line "Living as an angel in the place that I was born".

Eldritch studied French and German literature at the University of Oxford before moving to Leeds around 1978 to study Mandarin Chinese at the University of Leeds; he left both courses before graduating. Although he speaks fluent French and German, and has some knowledge of Dutch, Italian, Russian, Serbo-Croatian and Latin, he claims to have forgotten the Chinese he learned. During this period, Eldritch was a freelance drummer in the local Leeds punk scene.